Capital market capable of driving Nigeria’s economy

By Saby Elemba in Owerri

Osita Izunaso, the senator representing Imo West Senatorial Zone in the National Assembly and the chairman Senate Committee on Capital Market, has  said that if the capital market is well managed and harnessed, it has the potential and capacity to turn around Nigeria’s economy.

Izunaso offered this view recently when the 16th Annual Banking and Financial Institution Conference, opened at the Transcorp Hilton Hotels, Abuja, recently.

As one of the guest speakers at the  conference,  Izunaso informed that Nigeria is immensely endowed with great economic potentials from vast natural resources to financial and industrial stables.

He noted that harnessing the potentials and translating them into sustainable economic growth and development would require the collective efforts of all the stakeholders, especially those in the financial services industry.

According to him, the “financial services industry is the foundation for any moving economy, not just a tool, but a central hub of the society’s economic and social fabric”. 

He wondered why only about 150 companies in the whole country  were listed in the Nigeria’s capital market; hence,  he asked ,  “why are the other vibrant companies and multinationals operating in the country not listed in the capital market”?. He further retorted, “are they doing so to evade tax”?

But he informed the stakeholders in the financial services sector in Nigeria that they have much work to do as far as Nigeria’s capital market is concerned.

He implored the audience to engage in conversations that would change the narrative of the capital market, and also encouraged them to remember the responsibility that was always attached with their roles as members of the financial services sector of the nation’s economy.

He assured that he was confident that the National Assembly would continue to support critical stakeholders such as the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) in creating enabling environmental conditions for the financial industry of which the capital market is part of, to thrive.